I'd move the games lest a little more to the left to take up some of the blank space between the list and the surveillance/identification panes. maybe just make it wider? I don't know, the bright high point of the background keeps nabbing my attention. (Mind you, i've been staring at Adobe tool windows in Illustrator all day, so my brain is a little fried).

Way ahead of you on that one! I will be making both the game list and image areas larger. Originally I have an third panel in there for ROM information, but of course Maximus Arcade can't show that stuff... It amazes me that something like XMBC/Kodi has more functionality when it comes to ROM lists than dedicated cabinet frontends. If I weren't for the lack of LEDBlinky support I would have gone with that for the frontend. There is so much more that is possible for cabinet frontends, but it seems most of them are no longer in development and stagnating.

Go with Mala.. full ledblinky support and you can put all that info up. Only major downside to Mala is layering of content doesn't work well, so text will always end up on top even if you want it hidden between layers.

I agree with Chance on this one. The reason I went with Maximus is because it is one of the few that actually support HiRes widescreen graphics (even Hyperspin doesn't support widescreen). I understand many arcade cabinets still have old-school monitors in them, but more and more of them are using widescreen 1080p monitors. I want something that looks good on my widescreen monitor.

It actually amazes me that we haven't seen any frontends out there with scrapers built in (Like the ROM Collection Browser in XBMC/Kodi). There is so much info out there on these games, it would be a great feature to have. These are the days I wish I could code...

I guess I haven't had that issue.. all my mala layouts are 1080 and with fonts and decent background graphics I have had some nice results.

The biggest problem I had was making the right text effect in the Wylie's Wars project.. I couldn't control text spacing the way I wanted, and when I tried to just blow it up and cover the top, I ran into the problem of the text coming out on top even if I put that element behind other things. I can see where it certainly could use some updating, but I also have yet to see anything great from Maximus, and Hyperspin is great if you want a wheel, but if you despise the wheel like I do you are SOL. It is just like any other part of an arcade though, subject to opinions.

The only reason I suggested it is because of all the things you have mentioned (LEDblinky support, extra data displayed, 1080p layouts, etc), Mala can do them with ease. But I am sure there is something about it you don't like, and there is nothing wrong with that. Hope you can get Maximus to do what you want.

For those of you with battop US360s... is the threaded top for the battop 6mm? I am looking at getting some dark blue battops to match the buttons I have and Paradise Arcade no longer seems to carry the JAPROC battops with the variable (6mm/10mm) inserts, so I am hoping the 360s have 6mm threaded tops.

Only took staples 7.5 hours to print the damn thing... I will be using this to create a mockup using foam board to make sure the setup in comfortable one my joysticks come in.

On the pushbutton front Susan from Paradise Arcade was nice enough to hook me up with replacement barrels for my translucent buttons, so now they all match! Also my navy blue pushbuttons came in from Arcade Spare Parts and here is the result-

When reassembling I made sure to reuse the springs from the IL buttons because the ones in the navy blue buttons was much stiffer. For those of you wondering- The 8 buttons for each of the players will have the navy blue plungers, all the admin, coin and mouse buttons will have black plungers and the P1 and P2 start buttons will have white imprinted buttons.

I then went through all my buttons and did my best ChanceKJ impression and wired them all up with the RGB LEDs-

I agree with Chance on this one. The reason I went with Maximus is because it is one of the few that actually support HiRes widescreen graphics (even Hyperspin doesn't support widescreen). I understand many arcade cabinets still have old-school monitors in them, but more and more of them are using widescreen 1080p monitors. I want something that looks good on my widescreen monitor.

It actually amazes me that we haven't seen any frontends out there with scrapers built in (Like the ROM Collection Browser in XBMC/Kodi). There is so much info out there on these games, it would be a great feature to have. These are the days I wish I could code...

However in the excitement it never fails that folks put the switches on the buttons prior to installing. Yeah buddy your gonna have to take every last one of those switches right back off.

PIC

Get it done in B/W next time since its an alignment test print....Done in 10 mins.

PIC

Oh, I am well aware that i will have to remove all the microswitches. That is just my organizational OCD kicking in.

Regarding the print- it did only take 10 minutes to print. It took 7 hours to get them to print it because they kept forgetting about it (I went back three times and on the third time made them print it with me standing there).

Alright, so there hasn't been a whole lot of progress over the holidays, but my order from Ultimarc did come in with my UltraStik 360s, all the mods and my IPAC Ultimate-

I took the opportunity to put the long shafts, octagon restrictors and hard springs on the joysticks along with my Pacific Blue ALU series battops from Paradise Arcade (thanks for all the help Susan!)-

And here it is compared to the original config-

As Neph and others mentioned I will be needing to lube the pivots on the joysticks, which will probably be my next task before I make a test joystick to make sure the layout works for me.

In related news I also have found a new place to live (lease is up on the apartment!) and will be moving in March. In the new place I will have a dedicated garage and basement so I will finally be able to start my wood work and feel like I am accomplishing something on this project!

Alright, after finally moving and dealing with all the fun of unpacking I have made some progress on this build-

Got a new order in from Paradise Arcade including the following-

- Mini SLG- 8 Tropical Mood RGB LEDs

Also, I have been mulling over the design a bit and I think I have decided to go with more traditional cabinet sides (based on the sides of Flynn's Arcade, no less) than the Viewlix sides. Here is the current mock up (minus the control panel)-

Any thoughts?

I am about ready to start looking at local CNC shops, but need my SketchUp docs converted to CAD. Don't suppose anyone on here could help with that?

I also managed to recently acquire an original Mortal Kombat II cabinet in very good condition- that has been keeping me busy as well!

Back from the dead... with a question! Just out of curiousity- if you guys had to spit ball a cost for CNC on this cabinet, what would you think is reasonable? The quotes I have gotten recently have... not been, and that is putting it nicely.

Haruman does a great job, I think he shipped his first full size build to me. It was melamine though (never again). He is fair and will stay with you through the entire process all the way up to and through delivery. The cuts are precise, and the quality is A1. He will take care of you.

You mean the fact I specifically called out his build (and Chance's) in the first post as a major inspiration didn't give away the fact that there would be similarities? The lower section (the black part) is meant to be a combination of Griff's Revolution and Lukensteinz's MK Viewlix. I liked this part of Griff's build particularly because it fixes my biggest complaint about cabinets that have 32" monitors- the massive flat piece of wood where the coin door is. Giff's design breaks up this area. The sides are actually the modified sides of Chance's Flynn build, minus a pac-man pizza slice.

So the last gentleman I spoke with has quoted me $100 per sheet for materials and cut. That is for this Ultralight MDF. I do have some concerns about using this stuff mostly around these Screw Pull numbers (the Ultralight, not the Light product)-

Considering the weight of the unit, do you guys feel these numbers are rather low as well (traditional MDF has a face screw pull number of 400lbs)?

Since I decided a while back to change the shape of the sides of the cabinet, I have been working on a design for sideart. While I wait on getting the wood cut (seems like it is going to take forever!!!) I figured I would post this art for opinions. As always these are my own characters and my own art, although the character art on these need to be redone in vector format (and mister zombie will go away as he doesn't quite fit). Just like the marquee I have good guys on the left and bad guys on the right. I have a few other ideas mostly centering around how I am going to put the logo but this version is good enough for the masses at the moment!